June 2003 Daily Fishing Reports

Today I got to fish with six members of my fly fishing class, with three three-hour shifts giving everybody the opportunity to hook up. Suffice it to say that the entrance to Waquoit Bay had bass and blues on top for nine straight hours and I can only imagine how long the mayhem lasted. The fish got much fussier as the day wore on, to the point where they were all over the surface during the final shift by refused to eat anything we offered. There had been a serious algae bloom inside the bay and some of the weed had drifted out into the channel. It certainly is possible that krill and other small microscopic animals and plants were swept out with the algae and that's why the bass wouldn't eat the fly because their meal was almost microscopic in nature. Or maybe we just need to tie more small sand eel patterns. At leas that's the story I'm sticking by!

Mike Mulroy of New Bedford joined me on a beautiful day to learn more about the islands, specifically tossing eels. Although the striped ones evaded capture, we did have some excitement when Mike hooked a good sized shark that at first looked like the biggest bass in the world as it tracked the eel down deep. There is certainly plenty of bait down the Elizabeths and small bluefish around as well, and the latter are more than willing to provide some acrobatics and impressive surges before trying to bite your hand off. The water was once again crystal clear, and that may have something to do with the lack of bass in shallow water, although there is no shortage on the deeper edges.

Mike Mulroy of New Bedford joined me on a beautiful day to learn more about the islands, specifically tossing eels. Although the striped ones evaded capture, we did have some excitement when Mike hooked a good sized shark that at first looked like the biggest bass in the world as it tracked the eel down deep. There is certainly plenty of bait down the Elizabeths and small bluefish around as well, and the latter are more than willing to provide some acrobatics and impressive surges before trying to bite your hand off. The water was once again crystal clear, and that may have something to do with the lack of bass in shallow water, although there is no shortage on the deeper edges.

Every year I get the chance to fish a number of times with Jeff Howard, a real outdoorsman who simply enjoys fishing and the beauty of the islands as much as I do. Even though the fishing was a bit slow, with Jeff managing a few schoolies on a very seductive looking half-and-half he tied, we did have some greater excitement when I failed to heed the warning provided by a big popper whizzing by my head due to some wind off the wrong shoulder. I figured if I switched to a fast sink line and small Mushmouth fly, I would be OK, but that plan sprung a leak when I buried that creation in my right forearm. Fortunately, Jeff proved to be a very capable doctor, giving that hook a good yank and setting it free with no blood and no pain.

There's nothing more I like than helping folks learn about fishing, and today I got the chance to work with Jane Rost and her friend Mary Krasveski. Jane owns a small Whaler Outrage and was interested in discovering the inside scoop on fishing Waquoit, Poppy, and Cotuit, all secluded waters that are perfect in themselves for small boat angling as well as close to other inshore locales. We started by tossing small stickbaits around cutbanks inside the bay, where both Jane and Mary managed to raise some bass but not put the hook in them. When we made it to the entrance channel to the bay, the water was alive with small bass and blues just putting on a terrific topwater show. Plugs worked OK, but soft plastics were more productive. At first it looked like Mary was going to be the only one to catch a striper as Jane had a case of the blues, but Jane came back strong and finally recorded her first schoolie, which is only appropriate for a retired schoolteacher. We also did some drifting around Succonesset, but only Mary managed a bump although we saw some nice fluke and a couple of blues caught. After pulling the Katie G., we relaunched at Mashpee Neck and headed to Cotuit where we ended up surrounded by small bluefish that were only too happy to blast Rebel Jumpin' Minnows. The conclusion to the day was a cruise through Cotuit Bay and North Bay over to Osterville and back by way of Dead Neck. Weatherwise, this was definitely the best day of the summer so far and the fishing was just fine as well.

While Buzzards Bay provided some exciting light tackle top water action for Gary Grosart and his son on small bluefish and some schoolies, the idea was to find some larger fish. With the west entrance generally limited to bigger bass on wire and jigs or cut bait drifted deep, we made plans to get together next week to hit the Elizabeths for some lessons in eel slinging and tubing.

The brothers Yetman, Davis and Robert, were joined today by Paul Mort, a friend and fellow curling devotee of theirs who is young in spirit, no matter how many years he might have seen. The goal was to get Paul a good fish and MG did produce three decent bass, one on the plug and two on the fly, as well as a schoolie for the trio. Fish continued to crash here and there as the current began to slack, but once again they were awfully finicky. After a jump into Vineyard Haven, it was a lumpy ride back towards Woods Hole where we cast plugs and flies along Naushon, working stretches that have consistently produced at least a goodly number of schoolies in the past, but the world along the Elizabeths was awfully quiet today. Even the magic clear Zara Spook only brought one swing and a miss. Despite the relative lack of fish, I really enjoyed talking with these three curlers about their sport and what it means to them, as well as Davis and Robert's fishing experiences around Cape Poge Gut and life in Newfoundland where they grew up. There's nothing more I like than learning about new things and hearing about the adventures that fill up the lives of such interesting folks.

Steve Murphy was back again, this time with Buzz Friend, a business associate who owns Play It Again Sports, a great sporting goods shop in Yarmouth. After a few fish for Murph at MG, I made the call to hit Wasque and Tom Shoal, where there have been reports of good action on top. Well, not today as it was sloppy and clear that wire line jigging would rule the day inside and going farther out in the fog and foamers would not be an option. So it was back to MG and then on the islands where we pitched eels, once again with no action. Suffice it to say that we had to be satisfied with bluefish on surface plugs and that the good captain is still scratching his head.

After catching schoolies from the jetties in Falmouth, David Goldthwaite and Stephen Rock had decided they wanted to move up to something more substantial with stripes, so today we headed to Middle Ground. Sure enough, the bass were there and David got to appreciate how strong these fish are in a rip as they inhaled the silicone squid flies we were using. Despite some good shots, Stephen wasn't as fortunate and we ultimately ended up down the islands, hitting some prime spots. We did manage to raise a few fish outside of Tarpaulin and went back to MG for the change of the tide. The fish were there again, but they were scattered and finicky. I have to believe that with all the pressure on them and the number that have been caught and kept, the population is thinning out. We continued our fishing down the Elizabeths and were greeted with hordes of small bluefish, but nothing in the way of bass despite some serious miles and some serious casting. Both David and Stephen are quick learners and I really enjoyed our fishing together and sharing stories and laughs, despite the rain that fell all day.

Some of my favorite trips concern father-son outings, and today I fished with Mike Price from Pittsburgh and his two boys Jeff and Brendan. When we got to Middle Ground, the rip was just starting to set up and it was so flat calm that we got to see something I live for - big fish finning on the surface, looking for sand eels. Brendan managed to work a Jumpin' Minnow just right and had his first bass blow up on the plug and inhale it. It was just below legal, but chunky and feisty. Mike and Jeff worked the front of the boat, with Mike landing what looked like a mirror image of Brendan's fish before putting a Pili popper into a bass that ripped drag and had us drifting towards West Chop. The plug had a single Siwash with the barb bent down and at the boat the weed on the line produced some slack and the Pili feel out of the fish's mouth. At that point, I put a bear hug on the bass and swept it into the boat. After some pictures and discussion about whether to keep this beauty, the boys left it up to dad and he went with the release ethic. We zipped around Naushon and found some small blues that were pretty finicky and threw plugs in Robinson's without any luck, but good memories were had by all and Capt. Brendan skippered the Katie G. safely back to Green Pond.

Steve Murphy was back on town this week, visiting his folks and sharing stories of his adopted home in Minnesota. As luck would have, our adventure today included a return adventure with Frig, Curious, or as he's known to the rest of the world, Ron Quain. Middle Ground was OK this morning, with Steve taking a couple of nice just over legal size fish on Pilis, while Ron managed to yank the hooks out of the biggest fish of the day as he attempted to lift a 34 inch bass into the boat on 12 pound line. After things began to slow as the rip slacked, we headed down the island to pitch eels. It was rocking and rolling and schools of small bluefish were everywhere. Ultimately, we ended up sacrificing a couple of plugs to the little ones; somehow, I have to make room for a couple of rods rigged with wire at all times. Somehow, Mr. Wiggly didn't bring any reaction everywhere we stopped, and we hit plenty of prime water. Things were slow that Ron kept talking about all of those small bluefish. At the end of the day, it was back to MG where Ron proved that not everyone can work a pencil popper and Steve put dinner in the cooler bag after the boys elected to release all of their fish in the morning, confident that they would catch something bigger. Enough said.

This report might be out of order chronologically, but I wanted to make sure that I mentioned an enjoyable day on the water with Joe DeFrancisco, even though we never did catch any fish. Joe is a very fine flyrodder from up around Rochester, NY and our original plans were to visit Barnstable to repeat a trip we did there several years ago, but hopefully without the wind. Well, by the noon time we had agreed to, it was whipping pretty good out of the northeast and there was heavy fog haze, so relocated to the southside in the hopes of doing something at Middle Ground. Even though we had our shots and Joe hooked up a couple of times, the heavy water made keeping the line tight tough and the fish spit the hook each time. We also visited Woods Hole and worked some beautiful water around Penzance to no avail and ended up finally in Waquoit, where we couldn't even scare up a schoolie. The air temperature dropped about 10 degrees as the afternoon wore on and by the end of the day it felt more like late October than June. Despite the no fish trip, we did see a brief push of three or four backs in the Hole than looked an awful lot like big blues and talking with Joe about fly fishing made a cold, long afternoon certainly worthwhile.

Over the years I have had some great trips around Barnstable, but this Thursday while fishing with Steve Sawczuk and Ray Riley the action was like nothing I have ever seen. With plans for two days of fishing, originally we were going to hit Middle Ground for a half day on Thursday and then follow up with Barnstable on Friday, but with dire threats of rain for Friday, I elected to go for the northside a day early. What a fortuitous decision! We were greeted with nervous schools of sand eels paving the bottom in the fog and as the current got going, the birds just started going crazy and there were fish porpoising everywhere you looked. The water was calm and at times in the fog you could hear bass just churning the water into a froth. Steve and Ray are part of a large Connecticut fly rod club and are clearly expert flyrodders who have done some serious fishing in some pretty cool places. Still, they were as amazed by what we were witnessing as I was and the only thing that would have made the day better is if I had had a video camera because it was so crazy that you just had to experience what we did. Over the course of eight hours, I don't think there was more than a minute when either Steve or Ray or both weren't hooked up. What was really cool is they both hooked and landed some of the bigger fish we saw, including a couple of blonde bass that cooperated on the flats when the water had dropped almost all the way out. Steve and Ray also managed to land three out of four blues on monofilament tippets. These guys caught so many fish that the olive and white Clousers we were using had just a couple of strands of bucktail by the end of the day. Yours truly ended up with a bleeding left thumb after lipping so many fish and sore legs because I went from one side of the boat to the other all day landing fish . . . but those are the kind of aches and pains I'll take any day. Friday showed an east wind and after thinking about hitting Middle Ground, we all agreed that pounding through the chop and then having to work hard to maintain one's footing wasn't the best of ideas, even if it meant some good fish on top on squid flies, so we opted for Barnstable again. Anyone who believes in east is least should rethink that old saw because Steve and Ray did a job once again. There were smiles all around as they just caught and caught, to the point where the fish simply destroyed the bandage I had on my left thumb. Even now, it's raw and missing some serious skin, but I can live with it. Steve and Ray were two happy anglers, with more fond Barnstable memories. The weather really held out for us, and when they left in search of a worm hatch that a couple of other members of their club had experienced in Megansett the night before, I was pretty confident that if the rest of their visit didn't include that many fish, Steve and Ray would still be a couple of happy flyrodders.

You can have all the fussy fish in July and August down around Monomoy; I'll take June when the fish are willing and there are fewer boats and less pressure on the fish. Today I got to fish with Rick and Peter Schwartz, a father-son team who are learning about the Cape. Rick is retired and lives in Brewster while Peter works in Cinncinati. Peter is clearly a gifted fly fisherman and he went right to work after we exited Stage Harbor and cruised the waters behind South Beach where we ran into several schools of stripers slurping sand eels and accompanied by birds, of course. There were some huge fish in the mix and many of them were cruising an edge with only two to three feet of water. While Peter caught several fish on the fly rod, Rick worked a Super Spook and hooked up several times, although it was just as enjoyable in some ways to watch the fish blast the plug out of the water. Things eventually settled down and we cruised some flats between North and South Monomoy, as well as working a point on the incoming tide. We saw a few cruising fish but it looked slow and the water was awfully cold, so it was off to the grass flats. Once again, we saw a couple of fish, in this case some big ones, but I prefer the drop and noticed a lack of bait so it was back to our initial starting point. What a good decision! We arrived to dropping water and bass finning and flashing on their sides; Rick and Peter got to experience sight fishing at its best, although it was a little cloudy. The bass were tailing like permit or bonefish and there were some huge fish in there. To his credit, after watching Peter have a ball with the fly rod, Rick put the spinning rod down for good and was determined to get a bass on the fly. After a few drops, he hooked into a good fish that ran off some serious line. After landing the fish for him, we celebrated and I suspect that Rick has now caught the bug, fully understanding what this long wand stuff is all about. It's always great to be part of some nice folks catching their first stripers on the fly and I imagine that I will run into these two down Monomoy way in the future.

Today I finally got the chance to show Ed Parks and Wayne Lish what Barnstable is all about. Last year, we got blown off the water after a half hour and never got any decent weather during their stay in Sandwich, but things certainly worked out well this time. Despite some early wind, it was sunny and the breeze eventually settled down. But you need more than good weather for a good trip and the fish certainly cooperated. By midmorning, both Ed and Wayne had managed plenty of schoolies and enjoyed the sight of the bottom paved with bass, some of them of substantial size. As always, the challenge is to get the fish in front of a big bass and have it inhale the offering before one of those super quick little characters get in there. I was also really pleased to see how Ed was banging out that Teeny 350 after a little practice, since these big saltwater rods and lines take some time getting used to if you've only experienced freshwater five weights! All in all, it was a great trip with two real gentlemen who know how to enjoy fishing.

Neal Cunningham and Mike McCabe were aboard the Katie G. to make up for a trip earlier in May that was blown out by cold and wind. I certainly expected Middle Ground to be crowded, and sure enough there were tons of boats at the west end, so I elected for the east end. Overall, we had plenty of room and Neal hooked several nice bass, with the largest around 34 inches and fat with squid, including a large piece in its mouth. Hab's poppers in hot pink or pink worked quite well, although the action was a bit slower than I would have liked. Last year I got taken to task by a Vineyard guide after I complained about folks anchoring up on the rip and I still think some guides do it because it makes their job easier and they get to sit there and watch their client beat himself up as he tries to drag the fish out of the rip. If I was anchoring up, I certainly would have the hook on a ball so I could release it and drift through to fight the fish more effectively and quickly. And maybe I don't like anchoring up because of the guy who watched as we hooked up at one of my favorite points, and then as we fell away to fight the fish, he charged in and threw out the hook, taking that stretch away from us. Anyway, we left MG when things got really slow and headed through the Hole; I don't know what I'm doing wrong but I have yet to time it for any topwater action. Word is there are fish down deep, and some giant ones at that, but I sure would like to see Middle or Red Ledge light up with a few birds and small bait. As we made our way towards Cuttyhunk, we began to run into small schools of fast moving blues that were acting more like funny fish, so we made the run to the Mecca, only to find things surprisingly slow on plugs and a couple of flyrodders did nothing as well, including one who elected to park his charter between me and the shore we were fishing. Back up the bay we went and this time we ran into blues galore off Robinson's that we elected to sacrifice a few flies to after having them blast topwater plugs with plenty of aerial displays. For the next couple of hours, Neal and Mike did battle with blues to six pounds that absolutely destroyed chartreuse Clousers and once again proved why they are a much better fly rod fish than any schoolie around. It only made me wish we had the five, six, or seven weights to make things really interesting. All in all, a good day with good folks and good action.

Today was my annual June trip with Scott Simenas, a devoted surf angler who enjoys tossing plugs and big plastic at this time of year. While Scott had been doing pretty well on blues and some small bass, he had yet to land anything with stripes of size so far this season, so we took care of that at MG. The ride over was interesting with some serious slop in the sound, but once we got to the rip, we were able to set up and Scott began to hook up with some very nice stripers in the low 30 inch class using hot pink Hab's poppers. At one point, Scott hooked up with a bass on the white Red Gill teaser he rigs up all his rods with and as he brought the fish close to the boat with the plug dangling behind, there was a flash and a blue made off with the plug. By the by, Scott's use of a stiffer 10 foot Lamiglas blank to cast plugs with once again proved to be well worth it, as he was able to work the plugs with much greater ease and effectiveness than other boats who were using softer rods that didn't produce any action.

It seems like I have had the pleasure of fishing with Dave Johnson and Walter Nelson for more than three years, but I guess that's because I have so much fun with these two avid flyrodders from New Hampshire. Despite the rain and increasing wind today, we had little trouble finding fish, from the flats off Chapin's to some deeper edges and grass patches, as well as around Mill Creek and inside Sandy Neck. Clousers, especially olive/white and chartreuse/white, scored well, both on intermediate and fast sink lines. Walt is a magician with his silky smooth delivery perfect for a fast sink line, while Dave is a casting machine who hooks up no matter where we hit. There were no big fish aboard the Katie G. today, but there was certainly nothing wrong with the size of the smiles. Now, I have to get these two gents into some funny fish this fall for some real fun!

On Sunday, the wind blew hard and the rain came down in sheets, but Kate and I had big smiles as we welcomed our newest addition to the family, a nine week old Bernese Mountain Dog puppy. We recently adopted an 11 month old Berner who was sad to be without the other dogs he had lived his whole life with, so we decided to get him a little sister. His name is Winston and our little lady in Sophia. The rest of the kids, Hobbes, Molly, and Woody, welcomed everybody as they always do, although at their age the younger dogs high energy is a bit much, so they say hello, and then go off to sleeping. With the young one getting used to our home, I took off some time to help Kate with early morning (1 AM) house training or the 5 AM shift. It's great fun to have Winston and Sophia with us and there is no doubt we are truly blessed. With a hectic schedule coming up (20 trips over the next 24 days), I took some time to spin up a few more flies as well as epoxy dozens that have been awaiting attention since March. Looking at the bigger stuff, I can't wait to toss the flat wings, especially.